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November 2012

Phoenix, AZ - November 14th, 2012 -- Augmented Reality is the merging of our online and offline realities to create a blended interaction with the world around us. It is also the overlaying of data on top of our natural senses, be they sight, sound, taste, touch, or smell. Semico is releasing an expanded version of our original report, Augmented Reality: Envision a More Intelligent World, that provides an in-depth look into this technology and its impact on the market.

Phoenix, AZ - November 8th, 2012 -- Sensor fusion has become an important feature for many portable devices, in particular smartphones, tablets and the emerging Ultraportable PCs. In fact, sensor fusion is required by Windows 8 for all tablet PCs and all convertible Ultrabooks, and recommended for clamshell Ultrabooks. Intel offers reference platforms for tablets and Ultrabooks that include a sensor hub block connected directly to the CPU. Many advanced applications are enabled by sensor fusion, including geo-fencing, gesture controls and context awareness.

Do periods of economic downturn create more pessimists, or do they just get more attention during tough times? Economists and politicians love to alarm us into believing economic growth is now on a slippery slope to permanently low levels. Everything has already been invented, baby boomers are on the decline, and productivity will never experience the kind of improvements that were seen in the 1950s. Robert J. Gordon, Professor of Social Science at Northwestern University wrote a paper for the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) in August 2012 in advance of his book release Beyond the Rainbow: The American Standard of Living Since the Civil War. He points out that the computer and Internet revolution has resulted in a much smaller economic impact than that of the combustion engine. He then argues that future innovations will have a diminishing effect on economic growth because of six headwinds1.